Plants and seeds of corn variety cv696879

ABSTRACT

According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the corn variety designated CV696879. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety CV696879, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety CV696879 with itself or with another corn plant, such as a plant of another variety. The invention further relates to corn seeds and plants produced by crossing plants of variety CV696879 with plants of another variety, such as another inbred line. The invention further relates to the inbred and hybrid genetic complements of plants of variety CV696879.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to the field of corn breeding.In particular, the invention relates to corn seed and plants of thevariety designated CV696879, and derivatives and tissue culturesthereof.

Description of Related Art

The goal of field crop breeding is to combine various desirable traitsin a single variety/hybrid. Such desirable traits include greater yield,better stalks, better roots, resistance to insecticides, herbicides,pests, and disease, tolerance to heat and drought, reduced time to cropmaturity, better agronomic quality, higher nutritional value, anduniformity in germination times, stand establishment, growth rate,maturity, and fruit size.

Breeding techniques take advantage of a plant's method of pollination.There are two general methods of pollination: a plant self-pollinates ifpollen from one flower is transferred to the same or another flower ofthe same plant. A plant cross-pollinates if pollen comes to it from aflower on a different plant.

Corn plants (Zea mays L.) can be bred by both self-pollination andcross-pollination. Both types of pollination involve the corn plant'sflowers. Corn has separate male and female flowers on the same plant,located on the tassel and the ear, respectively. Natural pollinationoccurs in corn when wind blows pollen from the tassels to the silks thatprotrude from the tops of the ear shoot.

Plants that have been self-pollinated and selected for type over manygenerations become homozygous at almost all gene loci and produce auniform population of true breeding progeny, a homozygous plant. A crossbetween two such homozygous plants produces a uniform population ofhybrid plants that are heterozygous for many gene loci. Conversely, across of two plants each heterozygous at a number of loci produces apopulation of hybrid plants that differ genetically and are not uniform.The resulting non-uniformity makes performance unpredictable.

The development of uniform corn plant hybrids requires the developmentof homozygous inbred plants, the crossing of these inbred plants, andthe evaluation of the crosses. Pedigree breeding and recurrent selectionare examples of breeding methods used to develop inbred plants frombreeding populations. Those breeding methods combine the geneticbackgrounds from two or more inbred plants or various other broad-basedsources into breeding pools from which new inbred plants are developedby selfing and selection of desired phenotypes. The new inbreds arecrossed with other inbred plants and the hybrids from these crosses areevaluated to determine which of those have commercial potential.

North American farmers plant tens of millions of acres of corn at thepresent time and there are extensive national and internationalcommercial corn breeding programs. A continuing goal of these cornbreeding programs is to develop corn hybrids that are based on stableinbred plants and have one or more desirable characteristics. Toaccomplish this goal, the corn breeder must select and develop superiorinbred parental plants.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect, the present invention provides a corn plant of thevariety designated CV696879. Also provided are corn plants having all ofthe morphological and physiological characteristics of the inbred cornvariety CV696879. The inbred corn plant of the invention may furthercomprise, or have, a cytoplasmic or nuclear factor that is capable ofconferring male sterility or otherwise preventing self-pollination, suchas by self-incompatibility. Parts of the corn plant of the presentinvention are also provided, for example, pollen obtained from an inbredplant and an ovule of the inbred plant.

The invention also concerns seed of the inbred corn variety CV696879.The inbred corn seed of the invention may be provided as an essentiallyhomogeneous population of inbred corn seed of the variety designatedCV696879. Essentially homogeneous populations of inbred seed aregenerally free from substantial numbers of other seed. Therefore, in thepractice of the present invention, inbred seed generally forms at leastabout 97% of the total seed. The population of inbred corn seed of theinvention may be particularly defined as being essentially free fromhybrid seed. The inbred seed population may be separately grown toprovide an essentially homogeneous population of inbred corn plantsdesignated CV696879.

In a further aspect of the invention, a composition is providedcomprising a seed of corn variety CV696879 comprised in plant seedgrowth media. In certain embodiments, the plant seed growth media is asoil or synthetic cultivation medium. In specific embodiments, thegrowth medium may be comprised in a container or may, for example, besoil in a field.

In another aspect of the invention, a plant of corn variety CV696879comprising an added heritable trait or genetic modification is provided.The heritable trait may comprise a genetic locus that comprises adominant or recessive allele. In certain embodiments of the invention, aplant of corn variety CV696879 further comprises a single locus. Inspecific embodiments of the invention, a single locus conversion confersone or more traits such as, for example, male sterility, herbicidetolerance, insect resistance, disease resistance, waxy starch, modifiedfatty acid metabolism, modified phytic acid metabolism, modifiedcarbohydrate metabolism and modified protein metabolism. In certainembodiments, a trait that confers herbicide resistance may conferresistance to herbicides such as, for example, imidazolinone herbicides,sulfonylurea herbicides, triazine herbicides, phenoxy herbicides,cyclohexanedione herbicides, benzonitrile herbicides,4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase-inhibiting herbicides,protoporphyrinogen oxidase-inhibiting herbicides, acetolactatesynthase-inhibiting herbicides, 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acidsynthase-inhibiting herbicides, bromoxynil, nicosulfuron,2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), dicamba, quizalofop-p-ethyl,glyphosate, or glufosinate. A conferred trait may be, for example,conferred by a naturally occurring maize gene introduced into the genomeof the variety by backcrossing, a natural or induced mutation, or atransgene introduced through genetic transformation techniques. Whenintroduced through transformation, a genetic locus may comprise one ormore transgenes integrated at a single chromosomal location.

In further embodiments, a single locus conversion comprises a geneticmodification to the genome of corn variety CV696879. A geneticmodification may comprise, for example, an insertion, deletion, orsubstitution of a nucleotide sequence. In certain embodiments, a singlelocus may comprise one or more genes or intergenic regions integratedinto or mutated at a single locus or may comprise one or more nucleicacid molecules integrated at the single locus. In particularembodiments, a single locus conversion may be generated by genomeediting such as through use of engineered nucleases, as is known in theart. Examples of engineered nucleases include, but are not limited to,Cas endonucleases, zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs), transcriptionactivator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), and engineeredmeganucleases, also known as homing endonucleases. Naturally occurringnucleases can also find use for genome editing. In specific embodiments,endonucleases, both naturally occurring and engineered, may utilize anypolypeptide-, DNA-, or RNA-guided genome editing systems known to theskilled artisan.

In yet another aspect of the invention, an inbred corn plant of thevariety designated CV696879 is provided, wherein acytoplasmically-inherited trait has been introduced into said inbredplant. Such cytoplasmically-inherited traits are passed to progenythrough the female parent in a particular cross. An exemplarycytoplasmically-inherited trait is the male sterility trait.Cytoplasmic-male sterility (CMS) is a pollen abortion phenomenondetermined by the interaction between the genes in the cytoplasm and thenucleus. Alteration in the mitochondrial genome and the lack of restorergenes in the nucleus will lead to pollen abortion. With either a normalcytoplasm or the presence of restorer gene(s) in the nucleus, the plantwill produce pollen normally. A CMS plant can be pollinated by amaintainer version of the same variety, which has a normal cytoplasm butlacks the restorer gene(s) in the nucleus, and continue to be malesterile in the next generation. The male fertility of a CMS plant can berestored by a restorer version of the same variety, which must have therestorer gene(s) in the nucleus. With the restorer gene(s) in thenucleus, the offspring of the male-sterile plant can produce normalpollen grains and propagate. A cytoplasmically inherited trait may be anaturally occurring maize trait or a trait introduced through genetictransformation techniques.

In yet another aspect of the invention, a tissue culture of regenerablecells of a plant of variety CV696879 is provided. The tissue culturewill preferably be capable of regenerating plants capable of expressingall of the morphological and physiological characteristics of thevariety, and of regenerating plants having substantially the samegenotype as other plants of the variety. Examples of some of themorphological and physiological characteristics that may be assessedinclude characteristics related to yield, maturity, and kernel quality.The regenerable cells in such tissue cultures will preferably be derivedfrom embryos, meristematic cells, immature tassels, microspores, pollen,leaves, anthers, roots, root tips, silk, flowers, kernels, ears, cobs,husks, or stalks, or from callus or protoplasts derived from thosetissues. Still further, the present invention provides corn plantsregenerated from the tissue cultures of the invention, the plants havingall of the morphological and physiological characteristics of varietyCV696879.

In yet another aspect of the invention, processes are provided forproducing corn seeds or plants, which generally comprise crossing afirst parent corn plant as a male or female parent with a second parentcorn plant, wherein at least one of the first or second parent cornplants is a plant of the variety designated CV696879. These processesmay be further exemplified as processes for preparing hybrid corn seedor plants, wherein a first inbred corn plant is crossed with a secondcorn plant of a different, distinct variety to provide a hybrid thathas, as one of its parents, the inbred corn plant variety CV696879. Inthese processes, crossing will result in the production of seed. Theseed production occurs regardless of whether the seed is collected ornot.

In one embodiment of the invention, the first step in “crossing”comprises planting, preferably in pollinating proximity, seeds of afirst and second parent corn plant, and preferably, seeds of a firstinbred corn plant and a second, distinct inbred corn plant. Where theplants are not in pollinating proximity, pollination can nevertheless beaccomplished by transferring a pollen or tassel bag from one plant tothe other as described below.

A second step comprises cultivating or growing the seeds of said firstand second parent corn plants into plants that bear flowers (corn bearsboth male flowers (tassels) and female flowers (silks) in separateanatomical structures on the same plant). A third step comprisespreventing self-pollination of the plants, i.e., preventing the silks ofa plant from being fertilized by any plant of the same variety,including the same plant. This is preferably done by emasculating themale flowers of the first or second parent corn plant, (i.e., treatingor manipulating the flowers so as to prevent pollen production, in orderto produce an emasculated parent corn plant). Self-incompatibilitysystems may also be used in some hybrid crops for the same purpose.Self-incompatible plants still shed viable pollen and can pollinateplants of other varieties but are incapable of pollinating themselves orother plants of the same variety.

A fourth step may comprise allowing cross-pollination to occur betweenthe first and second parent corn plants. When the plants are not inpollinating proximity, this is done by placing a bag, usually paper orglassine, over the tassels of the first plant and another bag over thesilks of the incipient ear on the second plant. The bags are left inplace for at least 24 hours. Since pollen is viable for less than 24hours, this assures that the silks are not pollinated from other pollensources, that any stray pollen on the tassels of the first plant isdead, and that the only pollen transferred comes from the first plant.The pollen bag over the tassel of the first plant is then shakenvigorously to enhance release of pollen from the tassels, and the shootbag is removed from the silks of the incipient ear on the second plant.Finally, the pollen bag is removed from the tassel of the first plantand is placed over the silks of the incipient ear of the second plant,shaken again and left in place. Yet another step comprises harvestingthe seeds from at least one of the parent corn plants. The harvestedseed can be grown to produce a corn plant or hybrid corn plant.

The present invention also provides corn seed and plants produced by aprocess that comprises crossing a first parent corn plant with a secondparent corn plant, wherein at least one of the first or second parentcorn plants is a plant of the variety designated CV696879. In oneembodiment of the invention, corn seed and plants produced by theprocess are first generation (F₁) hybrid corn seed and plants producedby crossing an inbred in accordance with the invention with another,distinct inbred. The present invention further contemplates seed of anF₁ hybrid corn plant. Therefore, certain exemplary embodiments of theinvention provide an F₁ hybrid corn plant and seed thereof.

In still yet another aspect of the invention, the genetic complement ofthe corn plant variety designated CV696879 is provided. The phrase“genetic complement” is used to refer to the aggregate of nucleotidesequences, the expression of which sequences defines the phenotype of,in the present case, a corn plant, or a cell or tissue of that plant. Agenetic complement thus represents the genetic makeup of an inbred cell,tissue or plant, and a hybrid genetic complement represents the geneticmakeup of a hybrid cell, tissue or plant. The invention thus providescorn plant cells that have a genetic complement in accordance with theinbred corn plant cells disclosed herein, and plants, seeds and diploidplants containing such cells.

Plant genetic complements may be assessed by genetic marker profiles,and by the expression of phenotypic traits that are characteristic ofthe expression of the genetic complement, e.g., isozyme typing profiles.It is understood that variety CV696879 could be identified by any of themany well known techniques such as, for example, Simple Sequence LengthPolymorphisms (SSLPs) (Williams et al., Nucleic Acids Res.,18:6531-6535, 1990), Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNAs (RAPDs), DNAAmplification Fingerprinting (DAF), Sequence Characterized AmplifiedRegions (SCARs), Arbitrary Primed Polymerase Chain Reaction (AP-PCR),Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphisms (AFLPs) (EP 534 858,specifically incorporated herein by reference in its entirety), andSingle Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) (Wang et al., Science,280:1077-1082, 1998).

In still yet another aspect, the present invention provides hybridgenetic complements, as represented by corn plant cells, tissues,plants, and seeds, formed by the combination of a haploid geneticcomplement of a corn plant of the invention with a haploid geneticcomplement of the same or a different variety. In another aspect, thepresent invention provides a corn plant regenerated from a tissueculture that comprises a hybrid genetic complement of this invention.

In still yet another aspect, the present invention provides a method ofproducing an inbred corn plant derived from the corn variety CV696879,the method comprising the steps of: (a) preparing a progeny plantderived from corn variety CV696879, wherein said preparing comprisescrossing a plant of the corn variety CV696879 with a second corn plant;(b) crossing the progeny plant with itself or a second plant to producea seed of a progeny plant of a subsequent generation; (c) growing aprogeny plant of a subsequent generation from said seed of a progenyplant of a subsequent generation and crossing the progeny plant of asubsequent generation with itself or a second plant; and (d) repeatingthe steps for an additional 3-10 generations to produce an inbred cornplant derived from the corn variety CV696879. In the method, it may bedesirable to select particular plants resulting from step (c) forcontinued crossing according to steps (b) and (c). By selecting plantshaving one or more desirable traits, an inbred corn plant derived fromthe corn variety CV696879 is obtained that possesses some of thedesirable traits of corn variety CV696879 as well as potentially otherselected traits.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Definitions of PlantCharacteristics

Barren Plants: Plants that are barren, i.e., lack an ear with grain, orhave an ear with only a few scattered kernels.

Cg: Colletotrichum graminicola rating. The rating multiplied by 10 isapproximately equal to percent total plant infection.

CLN: Corn Lethal Necrosis (combination of Maize Chlorotic Mottle Virusand Maize Dwarf Mosaic virus) rating. A numerical rating that is basedon a 1 to 9 scale of severity in which “1” indicates “most resistant”and “9” indicates “most susceptible.”

Cn: Corynebacterium nebraskense rating. The rating multiplied by 10 isapproximately equal to percent total plant infection.

Cz: Cercospora zeae-maydis rating. The rating multiplied by 10 isapproximately equal to percent total plant infection.

Dgg: Diatraea grandiosella girdling rating. A rating in which the valueequals percent plants girdled and stalk lodged.

Dropped Ears: Ears that have fallen from the plant to the ground.

Dsp: Diabrotica species root rating. A rating that is based on a 1 to 9scale in which “1” indicates “least affected” and “9” indicates “severepruning.”

Ear-Attitude: The attitude or position of the ear at harvest, which isscored as upright, horizontal, or pendant.

Ear-Cob Color: The color of the cob, which is scored as white, pink,red, or brown.

Ear-Cob Diameter: The average diameter of the cob when measured at themidpoint.

Ear-Cob Strength: A measure of mechanical strength of the cobs tobreakage, which is scored as strong or weak.

Ear-Diameter: The average diameter of the ear when measured at themidpoint.

Ear-Dry Husk Color: The color of the husks at harvest, which is scoredas buff, red, or purple.

Ear-Fresh Husk Color: The color of the husks 1 to 2 weeks afterpollination, which is scored as green, red, or purple.

Ear-Husk Bract: The length of an average husk leaf, which is scored asshort, medium, or long.

Ear-Husk Cover: The average distance from the tip of the ear to the tipof the husks in which the minimum value is no less than zero.

Ear-Husk Opening: An evaluation of husk tightness at harvest, which isscored as tight, intermediate, or open.

Ear-Length: The average length of the ear.

Ear-Number Per Stalk: The average number of ears per plant.

Ear-Shank Internodes: The average number of internodes on the ear shank.

Ear-Shank Length: The average length of the ear shank.

Ear-Shelling Percent: The average of the shelled grain weight divided bythe sum of the shelled grain weight and cob weight for a single ear.

Ear-Silk Color: The color of the silk observed 2 to 3 days after silkemergence, which is scored as green-yellow, yellow, pink, red, orpurple.

Ear-Taper (Shape): The taper or shape of the ear, which is scored asconical, semi-conical, or cylindrical.

Ear-Weight: The average weight of an ear.

Early Stand: The percent of plants that emerge from the ground asdetermined in the early spring.

ER: Ear rot rating. A rating in which the value approximates percent earrotted.

Final Stand Count: The number of plants just prior to harvest.

GDUs: Growing degree units. GDUs are calculated by the Barger Method inwhich the heat units for a 24 h period are calculated as follows:[(Maximum daily temperature+Minimum daily temperature)/2]−50. Thehighest maximum daily temperature used is 86° F. and the lowest minimumtemperature used is 50° F.

GDUs to Shed: The number of growing degree units (GDUs) or heat unitsrequired for an inbred line or hybrid to have approximately 50% of theplants shedding pollen as measured from time of planting. GDUs to shedis determined by summing the individual GDU daily values from theplanting date to the date of 50% pollen shed.

GDUs to Silk: The number of growing degree units (GDUs) for an inbredline or hybrid to have approximately 50% of the plants with silkemergence as measured from the time of planting. GDUs to silk isdetermined by summing the individual GDU daily values from the plantingdate to the date of 50% silking.

Hc2: Helminthosporium carbonum race 2 rating. The rating multiplied by10 is approximately equal to percent total plant infection.

Hc3: Helminthosporium carbonum race 3 rating. The rating multiplied by10 is approximately equal to percent total plant infection.

Hm: Helminthosporium maydis race 0 rating. The rating multiplied by 10is approximately equal to percent total plant infection.

Ht1: Helminthosporium turcicum race 1 rating. The rating multiplied by10 is approximately equal to percent total plant infection.

Ht2: Helminthosporium turcicum race 2 rating. The rating multiplied by10 is approximately equal to percent total plant infection.

HtG: Chlorotic-lesion type resistance. “+” indicates the presence of Htchlorotic-lesion type resistance; “−” indicates absence of Htchlorotic-lesion type resistance; and “+/−” indicates segregation of Htchlorotic-lesion type resistance. The rating multiplied by 10 isapproximately equal to percent total plant infection.

Kernel-Aleurone Color: The color of the aleurone, which is scored aswhite, pink, tan, brown, bronze, red, purple, pale purple, colorless, orvariegated.

Kernel-Cap Color: The color of the kernel cap observed at dry stage,which is scored as white, lemon-yellow, yellow, or orange.

Kernel-Endosperm Color: The color of the endosperm, which is scored aswhite, pale yellow, or yellow.

Kernel-Endosperm Type: The type of endosperm, which is scored as normal,waxy, or opaque.

Kernel-Grade: The percent of kernels that are classified as rounds.

Kernel-Length: The average distance from the cap of the kernel to thepedicel.

Kernel-Number Per Row: The average number of kernels in a single row.

Kernel-Pericarp Color: The color of the pericarp, which is scored ascolorless, red-white crown, tan, bronze, brown, light red, cherry red,or variegated.

Kernel-Row Direction: The direction of the kernel rows on the ear, whichis scored as straight, slightly curved, spiral, or indistinct(scattered).

Kernel-Row Number: The average number of rows of kernels on a singleear.

Kernel-Side Color: The color of the kernel side observed at the drystage, which is scored as white, pale yellow, yellow, orange, red, orbrown.

Kernel-Thickness: The distance across the narrow side of the kernel.

Kernel-Type: The type of kernel, which is scored as dent, flint, orintermediate.

Kernel-Weight: The average weight of a predetermined number of kernels.

Kernel-Width: The distance across the flat side of the kernel.

Kz: Kabatiella zeae rating. The rating multiplied by 10 is approximatelyequal to percent total plant infection.

Leaf-Angle: Angle of the upper leaves to the stalk, which is scored asupright (0 to 30 degrees), intermediate (30 to 60 degrees), or lax (60to 90 degrees).

Leaf-Color: The color of the leaves 1 to 2 weeks after pollination,which is scored as light green, medium green, dark green, or very darkgreen.

Leaf-Length: The average length of the primary ear leaf.

Leaf-Longitudinal Creases: A rating of the number of longitudinalcreases on the leaf surface 1 to 2 weeks after pollination. Creases arescored as absent, few, or many.

Leaf-Marginal Waves: A rating of the waviness of the leaf margin 1 to 2weeks after pollination, which is rated as none, few, or many.

Leaf-Number: The average number of leaves of a mature plant. Countingbegins with the cotyledonary leaf and ends with the flag leaf.

Leaf-Sheath Anthocyanin: A rating of the level of anthocyanin in theleaf sheath 1 to 2 weeks after pollination, which is scored as absent,basal-weak, basal-strong, weak, or strong.

Leaf-Sheath Pubescence: A rating of the pubescence of the leaf sheath.Ratings are taken 1 to 2 weeks after pollination and scored as light,medium, or heavy.

Leaf-Width: The average width of the primary ear leaf when measured atits widest point.

LSS: Late season standability. The value multiplied by 10 isapproximately equal to percent plants lodged in disease evaluationplots.

Moisture: The moisture of the grain at harvest.

On1: Ostrinia nubilalis 1st brood rating. The rating is based on a 1 to9 scale in which “1” indicates “resistant” and “9” indicates“susceptible.”

On2: Ostrinia nubilalis 2nd brood rating. The rating is based on a 1 to9 scale in which “1” indicates “resistant” and “9” indicates“susceptible.”

Relative Maturity: A maturity rating based on regression analysis. Theregression analysis is developed by utilizing check hybrids and theirpreviously established day rating versus actual harvest moistures.Harvest moisture on the hybrid in question is determined and thatmoisture value is inserted into the regression equation to yield arelative maturity.

Root Lodging: Root lodging is the percentage of plants that root lodge.A plant is counted as root lodged if a portion of the plant leans fromthe vertical axis by approximately 30 degrees or more.

Seedling Color: Color of leaves at the 6 to 8 leaf stage.

Seedling Height: Plant height at the 6 to 8 leaf stage.

Seedling Vigor: A visual rating of the amount of vegetative growth on a1 to 9 scale in which the best and worst ratings are “1” and “9”,respectively. The score is taken when the average entry in a trial is atthe fifth leaf stage.

Selection Index: The selection index gives a single measure of hybrid'sworth based on information from multiple traits. One of the traits thatis almost always included is yield. Traits may be weighted according tothe level of importance assigned to them.

Sr: Sphacelotheca reiliana rating. The rating is actual percentinfection.

Stalk-Anthocyanin: A rating of the amount of anthocyanin pigmentation inthe stalk. The stalk is rated 1 to 2 weeks after pollination as absent,basal-weak, basal-strong, weak, or strong.

Stalk-Brace Root Color: The color of the brace roots observed 1 to 2weeks after pollination as green, red, or purple.

Stalk-Diameter: The average diameter of the lowest visible internode ofthe stalk.

Stalk-Ear Height: The average height of the ear when measured from theground to the point of attachment of the ear shank of the top developedear to the stalk.

Stalk-Internode Direction: The direction of the stalk internode observedafter pollination as straight or zigzag.

Stalk-Internode Length: The average length of the internode above theprimary ear.

Stalk Lodging: The percentage of plants that did stalk lodge. Plants arecounted as stalk lodged if the plant is broken over or off below theear.

Stalk-Nodes With Brace Roots: The average number of nodes having braceroots per plant.

Stalk-Plant Height: The average height of the plant when measured fromthe soil to the tip of the tassel.

Stalk-Tillers: The percent of plants that have tillers. A tiller isdefined as a secondary shoot that has developed as a tassel capable ofshedding pollen.

Staygreen: Staygreen is a measure of general plant health near the timeof black layer formation (physiological maturity) and is usuallyrecorded at the time the ear husks of most entries within a trial haveturned a mature color. Scoring is on a 1 to 9 basis in which “1” and “9”are the best and worst score, respectively.

STR: Stalk rot rating. The rating is based on a 1 to 9 scale of severityin which “1” indicates “25% of inoculated internode rotted” and “9”indicates “entire stalk rotted and collapsed.”

SVC: Southeastern Virus Complex (combination of Maize Chlorotic DwarfVirus and Maize Dwarf Mosaic Virus) rating. The numerical rating isbased on a 1 to 9 scale of severity in which “1” indicates “mostresistant” and “9” indicates “most susceptible.”

Tassel-Anther Color: The color of the anthers at 50% pollen shed, whichis scored as green-yellow, yellow, pink, red, or purple.

Tassel-Attitude: The attitude of the tassel after pollination, which isscored as open or compact.

Tassel-Branch Angle: The angle of an average tassel branch to the mainstem of the tassel, which is scored as upright (less than 30 degrees),intermediate (30 to 45 degrees), or lax (greater than 45 degrees).

Tassel-Branch Number: The average number of primary tassel branches.

Tassel-Glume Band: The closed anthocyanin band at the base of the glume,which is scored as present or absent.

Tassel-Glume Color: The color of the glumes at 50% shed, which is scoredas green, red, or purple.

Tassel-Length: The length of the tassel, which is measured from the baseof the bottom tassel branch to the tassel tip.

Tassel-Peduncle Length: The average length of the tassel peduncle, whichis measured from the base of the flag leaf to the base of the bottomtassel branch.

Tassel-Pollen Shed: A visual rating of pollen shed that is determined bytapping the tassel and observing the pollen flow of approximately fiveplants per entry. The rating is based on a 1 to 9 scale in which “9”indicates “sterile” and “1” indicates “most pollen.”

Tassel-Spike Length: The length of the spike, which is measured from thebase of the top tassel branch to the tassel tip.

Test Weight: Weight of the grain in pounds for a given volume (bushel)adjusted to 15.5% moisture.

Yield: Yield of grain at harvest adjusted to 15.5% moisture.

Other Definitions

Allele: Any of one or more alternative forms of a gene locus, all ofwhich alleles relate to one trait or characteristic. In a diploid cellor organism, the two alleles of a given gene occupy corresponding locion a pair of homologous chromosomes.

Backcrossing: A process in which a breeder repeatedly crosses hybridprogeny back to one of the parents, for example, a first generationhybrid (F₁) with one of the parental genotypes of the F₁ hybrid.

Crossing: The pollination of a female flower of a corn plant, therebyresulting in the production of seed from the flower.

Cross-pollination: Fertilization by the union of two gametes fromdifferent plants.

Diploid: A cell or organism having two sets of chromosomes.

Emasculate: The removal of plant male sex organs or the inactivation ofthe organs with a chemical agent or a cytoplasmic or nuclear geneticfactor conferring male sterility.

F₁ Hybrid: The first generation progeny of the cross of two plants.

Genetic Complement: An aggregate of nucleotide sequences, the expressionof which sequences defines the phenotype in corn plants, or componentsof plants including cells or tissue.

Genotype: The genetic constitution of a cell or organism.

Haploid: A cell or organism having one set of the two sets ofchromosomes in a diploid.

Isozymes: Detectable variants of an enzyme, the variants catalyzing thesame reaction(s) but differing from each other, e.g., in primarystructure and/or electrophoretic mobility. The differences betweenisozymes are under single gene, codominant control. Consequently,electrophoretic separation to produce band patterns can be equated todifferent alleles at the DNA level. Structural differences that do notalter charge cannot be detected by this method.

Linkage: A phenomenon wherein alleles on the same chromosome tend tosegregate together more often than expected by chance if theirtransmission was independent.

Marker: A readily detectable phenotype, preferably inherited incodominant fashion (both alleles at a locus in a diploid heterozygoteare readily detectable), with no environmental variance component, i.e.,heritability of 1.

Phenotype: The detectable characteristics of a cell or organism in whichthe characteristics are the manifestation of gene expression.

Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL): Genetic loci that contribute, at least inpart, certain numerically representable traits that are usuallycontinuously distributed.

Regeneration: The development of a plant from tissue culture.

SSR profile: A profile of simple sequence repeats used as geneticmarkers and scored by gel electrophoresis following PCR amplificationusing flanking oligonucleotide primers.

Self-pollination: The transfer of pollen from the anther to the stigmaof the same plant.

Single Locus Converted (Conversion) Plant: Plants that are developed bya plant breeding technique called backcrossing or by genome editing of alocus, wherein essentially all of the morphological and physiologicalcharacteristics of an inbred are recovered in addition to thecharacteristics conferred by the single locus transferred into theinbred via the backcrossing technique.

Tissue Culture: A composition comprising isolated cells of the same or adifferent type or a collection of such cells organized into parts of aplant.

Transgene: A genetic sequence that has been introduced into the nuclearor chloroplast genome of a maize plant by a genetic transformationtechnique.

The following examples are included to demonstrate preferred embodimentsof the invention. It should be appreciated by those of skill in the artthat the techniques disclosed in the examples that follow representtechniques discovered by the inventor to function well in the practiceof the invention, and thus can be considered to constitute preferredmodes for its practice. However, those of skill in the art should, inlight of the present disclosure, appreciate that many changes can bemade in the specific embodiments that are disclosed and still obtain alike or similar result without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention.

Inbred Corn Plant CV696879 A. Origin and Breeding History

Inbred plant CV696879 was derived from a cross between the linesCV142634 and CV397654. The origin and breeding history of inbred plantCV696879 can be summarized as follows:

Year Description 2008 The inbred line CV142634 (a proprietary MonsantoCompany inbred) was crossed to the inbred line CV397654 (a proprietaryMonsanto inbred) in a nursery field at Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico.2009 The F1 seed was grown and self-pollinated in a field at Thomasboro,IL. 2009 F2 seed was grown and crossed to inducer line KHI1 (aproprietary Monsanto Company inbred) in a field at Puerto Vallarta,Jalisco, Mexico. A bulk of haploid kernels was formed. 2010 DH0 bulkseed was grown and self-pollinated in a field at Othello, Washington.Ears were selected. 2010 DH1 seed was grown ear to row andself-pollinated in a field at Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico. Earswere selected. 2012 DH2 ears were grown ear to row and self-pollinatedin field NEWCN01-SC2E at Waco, Nebraska. Ears from a plot were selectedand designated as coded inbred CV696879. 2012 DH3 ears were grown ear torow and self-pollinated in a field at Rancagua, Chile. Ears wereselected. 2013 DH4 ears were grown ear to row and self-pollinated in afield at Waco, Nebraska. Ears were selected. 2014 DH5 ears were grownear to row and self-pollinated in a field at Waco, Nebraska. Ears wereselected. 2015 DH6 ears were grown ear to row and self-pollinated in afield at Williamsburg, Iowa. The line was uniform and bulked as afinished line.

Corn variety CV696879 shows uniformity and stability within the limitsof environmental influence for the traits described hereinafter inTable 1. CV696879 has been self-pollinated and ear-rowed a sufficientnumber of generations with careful attention paid to uniformity of planttype to ensure homozygosity and phenotypic stability. No variant traitshave been observed or are expected in CV696879.

Inbred corn plants can be reproduced by planting the seeds of the inbredcorn plant CV696879, growing the resulting corn plants underself-pollinating or sib-pollinating conditions with adequate isolationusing standard techniques well known to an artisan skilled in theagricultural arts. Seeds can be harvested from such a plant usingstandard, well known procedures.

B. Phenotypic Description

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a corn plant having the morphological characteristics of cornplant CV696879. A description of the morphological and physiologicalcharacteristics of corn plant CV696879 is presented in Table 1.

TABLE 1 Morphological and Physiological Traits for Corn Variety CV696879CHARACTERISTIC VALUE 1. STALK Plant Height (cm) 222.5  Ear Height (cm)80.4 Anthocyanin Absent Brace Root Color Faint Internode DirectionStraight Internode Length (cm) 16.3 2. LEAF Color Dark Green Length (cm)72.3 Width (cm)  8.9 Sheath Anthocyanin Absent Sheath Pubescence LightMarginal Waves Moderate Longitudinal Creases Few 3. TASSEL Length (cm)48.4 Peduncle Length (cm) 11.6 Branch Number  7.1 Anther Color YellowGlume Color Green Glume Band Absent 4. EAR Silk Color Yellow Number PerStalk 2  Position (attitude) Upright Length (cm) 14.0 Shape Semi-ConicalDiameter (cm)  4.7 Shank Length (cm) 12.1 Husk Bract Short Husk Cover(cm)  5.9 Husk Opening Moderate Husk Color Fresh Green Husk Color DryBuff Cob Diameter (cm)  2.7 Cob Color Red Shelling Percent 89.3 5.KERNEL Row Number 16.5 Number Per Row 26.1 Row Direction Slightly CurvedType Dent Cap Color Yellow Side Color Yellow Length (depth) (mm) 12.4Width (mm)  8.2 Thickness (mm)  4.8 Endosperm Type Normal EndospermColor Yellow *These are typical values. Values may vary due toenvironment. Other values that are substantially equivalent are withinthe scope of the invention. Substantially equivalent refers toquantitative traits that when compared do not show statisticaldifferences of their means.

C. Deposit Information

A deposit was made of at least 2500 seeds of corn variety CV696879 withthe American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), 10801 University Boulevard,Manassas, Va. 20110-2209 USA. The deposit was assigned ATCC AccessionNo. PTA-______. The date of deposit of the seeds with the ATCC was______. All restrictions upon the deposit have been removed, and thedeposit is intended to meet all of the requirements of the BudapestTreaty and 37 C.F.R. § 1.801-1.809. Access to this deposit will beavailable during the pendency of the application to the Commissioner ofPatents and Trademarks and persons determined by the Commissioner to beentitled thereto upon request. The deposit will be maintained in theATCC Depository, which is a public depository, for a period of 30 years,or 5 years after the most recent request, or for the enforceable life ofthe patent, whichever is longer, and will be replaced if it becomesnonviable during that period. Applicant does not waive any infringementof their rights granted under this patent or under the Plant VarietyProtection Act (7 U.S.C. 2321 et seq.).

Further Embodiments of the Invention

In one embodiment, compositions are provided comprising a seed of cornvariety CV696879 comprised in plant seed growth media. Plant seed growthmedia are well known to those of skill in the art and include, but arein no way limited to, soil or synthetic cultivation medium. Plant seedgrowth media can provide adequate physical support for seeds and canretain moisture and/or nutritional components. Examples ofcharacteristics for soils that may be desirable in certain embodimentscan be found, for instance, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,932,166 and 4,707,176.Synthetic plant cultivation media are also well known in the art andmay, in certain embodiments, comprise polymers or hydrogels. Examples ofsuch compositions are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No.4,241,537.

In certain further aspects, the invention provides plants modified toinclude at least a first heritable trait. Such plants may, in oneembodiment, be developed by a plant breeding technique calledbackcrossing, wherein essentially all of the morphological andphysiological characteristics of a variety are recovered in addition toa genetic locus transferred into the plant via the backcrossingtechnique. By essentially all of the morphological and physiologicalcharacteristics, it is meant that the characteristics of a plant arerecovered that are otherwise present when compared in the sameenvironment, other than an occasional variant trait that might ariseduring backcrossing or direct introduction of a transgene. It isunderstood that a locus introduced by backcrossing may or may not betransgenic in origin, and thus the term backcrossing specificallyincludes backcrossing to introduce loci that were created by genetictransformation.

Backcrossing methods can be used with the present invention to improveor introduce a trait into a variety. The term backcrossing as usedherein refers to the repeated crossing of a hybrid progeny back to oneof the parental corn plants. The parental corn plant that contributesthe locus or loci for the desired trait is termed the nonrecurrent ordonor parent. This terminology refers to the fact that the nonrecurrentparent is used one time in the backcross protocol and therefore does notrecur.

The parental corn plant to which the locus or loci from the nonrecurrentparent are transferred is known as the recurrent parent as it is usedfor several rounds in the backcrossing protocol. In a typical backcrossprotocol, the original parent of interest (recurrent parent) is crossedto a second variety (nonrecurrent parent) that carries the genetic locusof interest to be transferred. The resulting progeny from this cross arethen crossed again to the recurrent parent and the process is repeateduntil a corn plant is obtained wherein essentially all of themorphological and physiological characteristics of the recurrent parentare recovered in the converted plant, in addition to the transferredlocus from the nonrecurrent parent. The backcross process may beaccelerated by the use of genetic markers, such as SSR, RFLP, SNP orAFLP markers to identify plants with the greatest genetic complementfrom the recurrent parent.

The selection of a suitable recurrent parent is an important step for asuccessful backcrossing procedure. The goal of a backcross protocol isto add or substitute one or more new traits in the original variety andprogeny therefrom. To accomplish this, a genetic locus of the recurrentparent is modified or substituted with the desired locus from thenonrecurrent parent, while retaining essentially all of the rest of thegenetic, and therefore the morphological and physiological constitutionof the original plant. The choice of the particular nonrecurrent parentwill depend on the purpose of the backcross; one of the major purposesis to add some commercially desirable, agronomically important trait tothe plant. The exact backcrossing protocol will depend on thecharacteristic or trait being altered to determine an appropriatetesting protocol. Although backcrossing methods are simplified when thecharacteristic being transferred is a dominant allele, a recessiveallele may also be transferred. In this instance it may be necessary tointroduce a test of the progeny to determine if the desiredcharacteristic has been successfully transferred.

Many traits have been identified that are not regularly selected for inthe development of a new variety but that can be improved bybackcrossing techniques. A genetic locus conferring the traits may ormay not be transgenic. Examples of such traits known to those of skillin the art include, but are not limited to, male sterility, waxy starch,herbicide resistance, resistance for bacterial, fungal, or viraldisease, insect resistance, male fertility and enhanced nutritionalquality. These genes are generally inherited through the nucleus, butmay be inherited through the cytoplasm. Some known exceptions to thisare genes for male sterility, which can be inherited cytoplasmically butact as a single locus trait.

Direct selection may be applied when a genetic locus acts as a dominanttrait. An example of a dominant trait is the herbicide resistance trait.For this selection process, the progeny of the initial cross are sprayedwith the herbicide prior to the backcrossing. The spraying eliminatesany plants that do not have the desired herbicide resistancecharacteristic, and only those plants that have the herbicide resistancegene are used in the subsequent backcross. This process is then repeatedfor all additional backcross generations.

Many useful traits are introduced by genetic transformation techniques.Methods for the genetic transformation of corn are known to those ofskill in the art. For example, methods that have been described for thegenetic transformation of corn include electroporation (U.S. Pat. No.5,384,253), electrotransformation (U.S. Pat. No. 5,371,003),microprojectile bombardment (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,550,318; 5,736,369,5,538,880; and PCT Publication WO 95/06128), Agrobacterium-mediatedtransformation (U.S. Pat. No. 5,591,616 and E.P. Publication EP672752),direct DNA uptake transformation of protoplasts and silicon carbidefiber-mediated transformation (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,302,532 and 5,464,765).

Included among various plant transformation techniques are methodspermitting the site-specific modification of a plant genome. Thesemodifications can include, but are not limited to, site-specificmutations, deletions, insertions, and replacements of nucleotides. Thesemodifications can be made anywhere within the genome of a plant, forexample, in genomic elements, including, among others, coding sequences,regulatory elements, and non-coding DNA sequences. Such methods may beused to modify a particular trait conferred by a locus. The techniquesfor making such modifications by genome editing are well known in theart and include, for example, use of CRISPR-Cas systems, zinc-fingernucleases (ZFNs), and transcription activator-like effector nucleases(TALENs), among others.

It is understood to those of skill in the art that a transgene need notbe directly transformed into a plant, as techniques for the productionof stably transformed corn plants that pass single loci to progeny byMendelian inheritance are well known in the art. Such loci may thereforebe passed from parent plant to progeny plants by standard plant breedingtechniques that are well known in the art. Non-limiting examples oftraits that may be introduced into a corn plant according to specificembodiments of the invention are provided below.

A. Male Sterility

Examples of genes conferring male sterility include those disclosed inU.S. Pat. Nos. 3,861,709, 3,710,511, 4,654,465, 5,625,132, and4,727,219, each of the disclosures of which are specificallyincorporated herein by reference in their entirety. The use ofherbicide-inducible male sterility genes is described in U.S. Pat. No.6,762,344. Male sterility genes can increase the efficiency with whichhybrids are made, in that they eliminate the need to physicallyemasculate the corn plant used as a female in a given cross.

Where one desires to employ male-sterility systems with a corn plant inaccordance with the invention, it may be beneficial to also utilize oneor more male-fertility restorer genes. For example, when cytoplasmicmale sterility (CMS) is used, hybrid seed production requires threeinbred lines: (1) a cytoplasmically male-sterile line having a CMScytoplasm; (2) a fertile inbred with normal cytoplasm, which is isogenicwith the CMS line for nuclear genes (“maintainer line”); and (3) adistinct, fertile inbred with normal cytoplasm, carrying a fertilityrestoring gene (“restorer” line). The CMS line is propagated bypollination with the maintainer line, with all of the progeny being malesterile, as the CMS cytoplasm is derived from the female parent. Thesemale sterile plants can then be efficiently employed as the femaleparent in hybrid crosses with the restorer line, without the need forphysical emasculation of the male reproductive parts of the femaleparent.

The presence of a male-fertility restorer gene results in the productionof fully fertile F₁ hybrid progeny. If no restorer gene is present inthe male parent, male-sterile hybrids are obtained. Such hybrids areuseful when the vegetative tissue of the corn plant is utilized, e.g.,for silage, but in most cases, the seeds will be deemed the mostvaluable portion of the crop, so fertility of the hybrids in these cropsmust be restored. Therefore, one aspect of the current inventionconcerns plants of the corn variety CV696879 comprising a genetic locuscapable of restoring male fertility in an otherwise male-sterile plant.Examples of male-sterility genes and corresponding restorers that couldbe employed with the plants of the invention are well known to those ofskill in the art of plant breeding and are disclosed in, for instance,U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,530,191; 5,689,041; 5,741,684; and 5,684,242, thedisclosures of which are each specifically incorporated herein byreference in their entirety.

B. Herbicide Resistance

Numerous herbicide resistance genes are known and may be employed withthe invention. A non-limiting example is a gene conferring resistance toa herbicide that inhibits the growing point or meristem such asimidazolinone or sulfonylurea herbicides. As imidazolinone andsulfonylurea herbicides are acetolactate synthase (ALS)-inhibitingherbicides that prevent the formation of branched chain amino acids,exemplary genes in this category code for ALS and AHAS enzymes asdescribed, for example, by Lee et al., EMBO J., 7:1241, 1988; Gleen etal., Plant Molec. Biology, 18:1185-1187, 1992; and Miki et al., Theor.Appl. Genet., 80:449, 1990. As a non-limiting example, a gene may beemployed to confer resistance to the exemplary sulfonylurea herbicidenicosulfuron.

Resistance genes for glyphosate (resistance conferred by mutant5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS) and aroA genes,respectively) and other phosphono compounds such as glufosinate(phosphinothricin acetyltransferase (PAT) and Streptomyces hygroscopicusphosphinothricin acetyltransferase (bar) genes) may also be used. See,for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,835 to Shah et al., which discloses thenucleotide sequence of a form of EPSPS that can confer glyphosateresistance. Non-limiting examples of EPSPS transformation eventsconferring glyphosate resistance are provided by U.S. Pat. Nos.6,040,497 and 7,632,985. The MON89788 event disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.7,632,985 in particular is beneficial in conferring glyphosate tolerancein combination with an increase in average yield relative to priorevents

A DNA molecule encoding a mutant aroA gene can be obtained under ATCCAccession No. 39256, and the nucleotide sequence of the mutant gene isdisclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,769,061 to Comai. A hygromycin Bphosphotransferase gene from E. coli that confers resistance toglyphosate in tobacco callus and plants is described in Penaloza-Vazquezet al., Plant Cell Reports, 14:482-487, 1995. European PatentApplication Publication No. EP0333033 to Kumada et al., and U.S. Pat.No. 4,975,374 to Goodman et al., disclose nucleotide sequences ofglutamine synthetase genes that confer resistance to herbicides such asL-phosphinothricin. The nucleotide sequence of a phosphinothricinacetyltransferase gene is provided in European Patent ApplicationPublication No. EP0242246 to Leemans et al. DeGreef et al.(Biotechnology, 7:61, 1989) describe the production of transgenic plantsthat express chimeric bar genes coding for phosphinothricin acetyltransferase activity. Exemplary genes conferring resistance to a phenoxyclass herbicide haloxyfop and a cyclohexanedione class herbicidesethoxydim are the Acct-S1, Acct-S2 and Acct-S3 genes described byMarshall et al., (Theor. Appl. Genet., 83:435-442, 1992). As anon-limiting example, a gene may confer resistance to other exemplaryphenoxy class herbicides that include, but are not limited to,quizalofop-p-ethyl and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D).

Genes are also known that confer resistance to herbicides that inhibitphotosynthesis such as, for example, triazine herbicides (psbA and gs+genes) and benzonitrile herbicides (nitrilase gene). As a non-limitingexample, a gene may confer resistance to the exemplary benzonitrileherbicide bromoxynil. Przibila et al. (Plant Cell, 3:169, 1991) describethe transformation of Chlamydomonas with plasmids encoding mutant psbAgenes. Nucleotide sequences for nitrilase genes are disclosed in U.S.Pat. No. 4,810,648 to Stalker, and DNA molecules containing these genesare available under ATCC Accession Nos. 53435, 67441, and 67442. Cloningand expression of DNA coding for a glutathione S-transferase isdescribed by Hayes et al. (Biochem. J., 285(1):173-180, 1992).4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD) is a target of theHPPD-inhibiting herbicides, which deplete plant plastoquinone andvitamin E pools. Rippert et al. (Plant Physiol., 134:92-100, 2004)describes an HPPD-inhibitor resistant tobacco plant that was transformedwith a yeast-derived prephenate dehydrogenase (PDH) gene.Protoporphyrinogen oxidase (PPO) is the target of the PPO-inhibitorclass of herbicides; a PPO-inhibitor resistant PPO gene was recentlyidentified in Amaranthus tuberculatus (Patzoldt et al., PNAS,103(33):12329-12334, 2006). The herbicide methyl viologen inhibits CO₂assimilation. Foyer et al. (Plant Physiol., 109:1047-1057, 1995)describe a plant overexpressing glutathione reductase (GR) that isresistant to methyl viologen treatment.

Siminszky (Phytochemistry Reviews, 5:445-458, 2006) describes plantcytochrome P450-mediated detoxification of multiple, chemicallyunrelated classes of herbicides. Modified bacterial genes have beensuccessfully demonstrated to confer resistance to atrazine, a herbicidethat binds to the plastoquinone-binding membrane protein Q_(B) inphotosystem II to inhibit electron transport. See, for example, studiesby Cheung et al. (PNAS, 85(2):391-395, 1988), describing tobacco plantsexpressing the chloroplast psbA gene from an atrazine-resistant biotypeof Amaranthus hybridus fused to the regulatory sequences of a nucleargene, and Wang et al. (Plant Biotech. J., 3:475-486, 2005), describingtransgenic alfalfa, Arabidopsis, and tobacco plants expressing the atzAgene from Pseudomonas sp. that were able to detoxify atrazine.

Bayley et al. (Theor. Appl. Genet., 83:645-649, 1992) describe thecreation of 2,4-D-resistant transgenic tobacco and cotton plants usingthe 2,4-D monooxygenase gene tfdA from Alcaligenes eutrophus plasmidpJP5. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20030135879 describes theisolation of a gene for dicamba monooxygenase (DMO) from Pseudomonasmaltophilia that is involved in the conversion of dicamba to a non-toxic3,6-dichlorosalicylic acid and thus may be used for producing plantstolerant to this herbicide.

Other examples of herbicide resistance have been described, forinstance, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,803,501; 6,448,476; 6,248,876; 6,225,114;6,107,549; 5,866,775; 5,804,425; 5,633,435; 5,463,175.

C. Waxy Starch

The waxy characteristic is an example of a recessive trait. In thisexample, the progeny resulting from the first backcross generation (BC₁)must be grown and selfed. A test is then run on the selfed seed from theBC₁ plant to determine which BC₁ plants carried the recessive gene forthe waxy trait. In other recessive traits additional progeny testing,for example growing additional generations such as the BC₁S1, may berequired to determine which plants carry the recessive gene.

D. Disease and Pest Resistance

Plant defenses are often activated by specific interaction between theproduct of a disease resistance gene (R) in the plant and the product ofa corresponding avirulence (Avr) gene in the pathogen. A plant line canbe transformed with cloned resistance gene to engineer plants that areresistant to specific pathogen strains. See, for example, Jones et al.(Science, 266:7891, 1994) (cloning of the tomato Cf-9 gene forresistance to Cladosporium fulvum); Martin et al. (Science, 262: 1432,1993) (tomato Pto gene for resistance to Pseudomonas syringae pv.tomato); and Mindrinos et al. (Cell, 78(6):1089-1099, 1994) (ArabidopsisRPS2 gene for resistance to Pseudomonas syringae).

A viral-invasive protein or a complex toxin derived therefrom may alsobe used for viral disease resistance. For example, the accumulation ofviral coat proteins in transformed plant cells imparts resistance toviral infection and/or disease development effected by the virus fromwhich the coat protein gene is derived, as well as by related viruses.See Beachy et al., Ann. Rev. Phytopathol., 28:451, 1990. Coatprotein-mediated resistance has been conferred upon transformed plantsagainst alfalfa mosaic virus, cucumber mosaic virus, tobacco streakvirus, potato virus X, potato virus Y, tobacco etch virus, tobaccorattle virus and tobacco mosaic virus. Id.

A virus-specific antibody may also be used. See, for example,Tavladoraki et al. (Nature, 366:469, 1993), who show that transgenicplants expressing recombinant antibody genes are protected from virusattack. Virus resistance has also been described in, for example, U.S.Pat. Nos. 6,617,496; 6,608,241; 6,015,940; 6,013,864; 5,850,023 and5,304,730. Additional means of inducing whole-plant resistance to apathogen include modulation of the systemic acquired resistance (SAR) orpathogenesis related (PR) genes, for example, genes homologous to theArabidopsis thaliana NIM1/NPR1/SA1, and/or by increasing salicylic acidproduction (Ryals et al., Plant Cell, 8:1809-1819, 1996).

Logemann et al. (Biotechnology, 10:305, 1992), for example, disclosetransgenic plants expressing a barley ribosome-inactivating gene havingan increased resistance to fungal disease. Plant defensins may be usedto provide resistance to fungal pathogens (Thomma et al., Planta,216:193-202, 2002). Other examples of fungal disease resistance areprovided in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,653,280; 6,573,361; 6,506,962; 6,316,407;6,215,048; 5,516,671; 5,773,696; 6,121,436; and 6,316,407.

Nematode resistance has been described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No.6,228,992 and bacterial disease resistance in U.S. Pat. No. 5,516,671.

E. Insect Resistance

One example of an insect resistance gene includes a Bacillusthuringiensis (Bt) protein, a derivative thereof or a syntheticpolypeptide modeled thereon. See, for example, Geiser et al. (Gene,48(1):109-118, 1986), who disclose the cloning and nucleotide sequenceof a Bt δ-endotoxin gene. Moreover, DNA molecules encoding δ-endotoxingenes can be purchased from the American Type Culture Collection,Manassas, Va., for example, under ATCC Accession Nos. 40098, 67136,31995 and 31998. Another example is a lectin. See, for example, VanDamme et al. (Plant Molec. Biol., 24:25, 1994), who disclose thenucleotide sequences of several Clivia miniata mannose-binding lectingenes. A vitamin-binding protein may also be used, such as avidin. SeePCT application US93/06487, the contents of which are herebyincorporated by reference. This application teaches the use of avidinand avidin homologues as larvicides against insect pests.

Yet another insect resistance gene is an enzyme inhibitor, for example,a protease or proteinase inhibitor or an amylase inhibitor. See, forexample, Abe et al., J. Biol. Chem., 262:16793, 1987 (nucleotidesequence of rice cysteine proteinase inhibitor); Huub et al., PlantMolec. Biol., 21:985, 1993 (nucleotide sequence of cDNA encoding tobaccoproteinase inhibitor I); and Sumitani et al., Biosci. Biotech. Biochem.,57:1243, 1993 (nucleotide sequence of Streptomyces nitrosporeusα-amylase inhibitor).

An insect-specific hormone or pheromone may also be used. See, forexample, the disclosure by Hammock et al. (Nature, 344:458, 1990), ofbaculovirus expression of cloned juvenile hormone esterase, aninactivator of juvenile hormone; Gade and Goldsworthy (Eds.Physiological System in Insects, Elsevier Academic Press, Burlington,Mass., 2007), describing allostatins and their potential use in pestcontrol; and Palli et al., Vitam. Horm., 73:59-100, 2005, disclosing useof ecdysteroid and ecdysteroid receptor in agriculture. The diuretichormone receptor (DHR) was identified in Price et al. (Insect Mol.Biol., 13:469-480, 2004) as a candidate target of insecticides.

Still other examples include an insect-specific antibody or animmunotoxin derived therefrom and a developmental-arrestive protein. SeeTaylor et al. (Seventh Int'l Symposium on Molecular Plant-MicrobeInteractions, Edinburgh, Scotland, Abstract W97, 1994), who describedenzymatic inactivation in transgenic tobacco via production ofsingle-chain antibody fragments. Numerous other examples of insectresistance have been described. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos.6,809,078; 6,713,063; 6,686,452; 6,657,046; 6,645,497; 6,642,030;6,639,054; 6,620,988; 6,593,293; 6,555,655; 6,538,109; 6,537,756;6,521,442; 6,501,009; 6,468,523; 6,326,351; 6,313,378; 6,284,949;6,281,016; 6,248,536; 6,242,241; 6,221,649; 6,177,615; 6,156,573;6,153,814; 6,110,464; 6,093,695; 6,063,756; 6,063,597; 6,023,013;5,959,091; 5,942,664; 5,942,658, 5,880,275; 5,763,245 and 5,763,241.

F. Modified Fatty Acid, Phytate, and Carbohydrate Metabolism

Genes may be used conferring modified fatty acid metabolism, in terms ofcontent and quality. For example, stearyl-ACP desaturase genes may beused. See Knutzon et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 89:2624, 1992.Various fatty acid desaturases have also been described, such as aSaccharomyces cerevisiae OLE1 gene encoding Δ9-fatty acid desaturase, anenzyme that forms monounsaturated palmitoleic (16:1) and oleic (18:1)fatty acids from palmitoyl (16:0) or stearoyl (18:0) CoA (McDonough etal., J. Biol. Chem., 267(9):5931-5936, 1992); a gene encoding astearoyl-acyl carrier protein delta-9 desaturase from castor (Fox etal., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 90(6):2486-2490, 1993); Δ6- andΔ12-desaturases from the cyanobacteria Synechocystis responsible for theconversion of linoleic acid (18:2) to gamma-linolenic acid (18:3 gamma)(Reddy et al., Plant Mol. Biol., 22(2):293-300, 1993); a gene fromArabidopsis thaliana that encodes an omega-3 desaturase (Arondel et al.,Science, 258(5086):1353-1355 1992); plant Δ9-desaturases (PCTApplication Publication No. WO 91/13972) and soybean and BrassicaΔ15-desaturases (European Patent Application Publication No. EP0616644).

Modified oils production is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos.6,444,876; 6,426,447 and 6,380,462. High oil production is disclosed,for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,495,739; 5,608,149; 6,483,008 and6,476,295. Modified fatty acid content is disclosed, for example, inU.S. Pat. Nos. 6,828,475; 6,822,141; 6,770,465; 6,706,950; 6,660,849;6,596,538; 6,589,767; 6,537,750; 6,489,461 and 6,459,018.

Phytate metabolism may also be modified by introduction of aphytase-encoding gene to enhance breakdown of phytate, adding more freephosphate to the transformed plant. For example, see Van Hartingsveldtet al., Gene, 127:87, 1993, for a disclosure of the nucleotide sequenceof an Aspergillus niger phytase gene. In corn, this, for example, couldbe accomplished by cloning and then reintroducing DNA associated withthe single allele that is responsible for corn mutants characterized bylow levels of phytic acid. See Raboy et al., Plant Physiol.,124(1):355-368, 2000.

A number of genes are known that may be used to alter carbohydratemetabolism. For example, plants may be transformed with a gene codingfor an enzyme that alters the branching pattern of starch. See Shirozaet al., J. Bacteriol., 170:810, 1988 (nucleotide sequence ofStreptococcus mutans fructosyltransferase gene); Steinmetz et al., Mol.Gen. Genet., 20:220, 1985 (nucleotide sequence of Bacillus subtilislevansucrase gene); Pen et al., Biotechnology, 10:292, 1992 (productionof transgenic plants that express Bacillus licheniformis α-amylase);U.S. Pat. No. 6,166,292 (low raffinose); Elliot et al., Plant Molec.Biol., 21:515, 1993 (nucleotide sequences of tomato invertase genes);Sergaard et al., J. Biol. Chem., 268:22480, 1993 (site-directedmutagenesis of barley α-amylase gene); Fisher et al., Plant Physiol.,102:1045, 1993 (maize endosperm starch branching enzyme II); and U.S.Pat. Nos. 6,538,181; 6,538,179; 6,538,178; 5,750,876 and 6,476,295(starch content). The Z10 gene encoding a 10 kD zein storage proteinfrom maize may also be used to alter the quantities of 10 kD zein in thecells relative to other components (Kirihara et al., Gene,71(2):359-370, 1988).

U.S. Pat. No. 6,930,225 describes maize cellulose synthase genes andmethods of use thereof.

G. Resistance to Abiotic Stress

Abiotic stress includes dehydration or other osmotic stress, salinity,high or low light intensity, high or low temperatures, submergence,exposure to heavy metals, and oxidative stress.Delta-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthetase (P5CS) from mothbean has beenused to provide protection against general osmotic stress.Mannitol-1-phosphate dehydrogenase (mtlD) from E. coli has been used toprovide protection against drought and salinity. Choline oxidase (codAfrom Arthrobactor globiformis) can protect against cold and salt. E.coli choline dehydrogenase (betA) provides protection against salt.Additional protection from cold can be provided by omega-3-fatty aciddesaturase (fad7) from Arabidopsis thaliana. Trehalose-6-phosphatesynthase and levan sucrase (SacB) from yeast and Bacillus subtilis,respectively, can provide protection against drought (summarized fromAnnex II Genetic Engineering for Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Plants,Consultative Group On International Agricultural Research TechnicalAdvisory Committee). Overexpression of superoxide dismutase can be usedto protect against superoxides, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,538,878to Thomas et al.

H. Additional Traits

Additional traits can be introduced into the corn variety of the presentinvention. A non-limiting example of such a trait is a coding sequencethat decreases RNA and/or protein levels. The decreased RNA and/orprotein levels may be achieved through RNAi methods, such as thosedescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,506,559 to Fire and Mellow.

Another trait that may find use with the corn variety of the inventionis a sequence that allows for site-specific recombination. Examples ofsuch sequences include the FRT sequence, used with the FLP recombinase(Zhu and Sadowski, J. Biol. Chem., 270:23044-23054, 1995); and the LOXsequence, used with CRE recombinase (Sauer, Mol. Cell. Biol.,7:2087-2096, 1987). The recombinase genes can be encoded at any locationwithin the genome of the corn plant, and are active in the hemizygousstate.

It may also be desirable to make corn plants more tolerant to or moreeasily transformed with Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Expression of p53 andiap, two baculovirus cell-death suppressor genes, inhibited tissuenecrosis and DNA cleavage. Additional targets can include plant-encodedproteins that interact with the Agrobacterium Vir genes; enzymesinvolved in plant cell wall formation; and histones, histoneacetyltransferases and histone deacetylases (reviewed in Gelvin,Microbiology & Mol. Biol. Reviews, 67:16-37, 2003).

In addition to the modification of oil, fatty acid or phytate contentdescribed above, it may additionally be beneficial to modify the amountsor levels of other compounds. For example, the amount or composition ofantioxidants can be altered. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,787,618and 7,154,029 and International Patent Application Publication No. WO00/68393, which disclose the manipulation of antioxidant levels, andInternational Patent Application Publication No. WO 03/082899, whichdiscloses the manipulation of an antioxidant biosynthetic pathway.

Additionally, seed amino acid content may be manipulated. U.S. Pat. No.5,850,016 and International Patent Application Publication No. WO99/40209 disclose the alteration of the amino acid compositions ofseeds. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,080,913 and 6,127,600 disclose methods ofincreasing accumulation of essential amino acids in seeds.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,559,223 describes synthetic storage proteins in whichthe levels of essential amino acids can be manipulated. InternationalPatent Application Publication No. WO 99/29882 discloses methods foraltering amino acid content of proteins. International PatentApplication Publication No. WO 98/20133 describes proteins with enhancedlevels of essential amino acids. International Patent ApplicationPublication No. WO 98/56935 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,346,403, 6,441,274 and6,664,445 disclose plant amino acid biosynthetic enzymes. InternationalPatent Application Publication No. WO 98/45458 describes synthetic seedproteins having a higher percentage of essential amino acids thanwildtype.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,633,436 discloses plants comprising a higher content ofsulfur-containing amino acids; U.S. Pat. No. 5,885,801 discloses plantscomprising a high threonine content; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,885,802 and5,912,414 disclose plants comprising high methionine content; U.S. Pat.No. 5,990,389 discloses plants comprising a high lysine content; U.S.Pat. No. 6,459,019 discloses plants comprising an increased lysine andthreonine content; International Patent Application Publication No. WO98/42831 discloses plants comprising a high lysine content;International Patent Application Publication No. WO 96/01905 disclosesplants comprising a high threonine content; and International PatentApplication Publication No. WO 95/15392 discloses plants comprising ahigh lysine content.

I. Origin and Breeding History of an Exemplary Introduced Trait

85DGD1 MLms is a conversion of 85DGD1 to cytoplasmic male sterility.85DGD1 MLms was derived using backcross methods. 85DGD1 (a proprietaryinbred of Monsanto Company) was used as the recurrent parent and MLms, agermplasm source carrying ML cytoplasmic sterility, was used as thenonrecurrent parent. The breeding history of the converted inbred 85DGD1MLms can be summarized as follows:

Hawaii Nurseries Planting Made up S-O: Female row 585 male row Date Apr.2, 1992 500 Hawaii Nurseries Planting S-O was grown and plants wereback- Date Jul. 15, 1992 crossed times 85DGD1 (rows 444 {acute over ( )}443) Hawaii Nurseries Planting Bulked seed of the BC₁ was grown and DateNov. 18, 1992 backcrossed times 85DGD1 (rows V3-27 {acute over ( )}V3-26) Hawaii Nurseries Planting Bulked seed of the BC₂ was grown andDate Apr. 2, 1993 backcrossed times 85DGD1 (rows 37 {acute over ( )} 36)Hawaii Nurseries Planting Bulked seed of the BC₃ was grown and Date Jul.14, 1993 backcrossed times 85DGD1 (rows 99 {acute over ( )} 98) HawaiiNurseries Planting Bulked seed of BC₄ was grown and Date Oct. 28, 1993backcrossed times 85DGD1 (rows KS-63 {acute over ( )} KS-62) Summer 1994A single ear of the BC₅ was grown and backcrossed times 85DGD1 (MC94-822{acute over ( )} MC94-822-7) Winter 1994 Bulked seed of the BC₆ wasgrown and backcrossed times 85DGD1 (3Q-1 {acute over ( )} 3Q-2) Summer1995 Seed of the BC₇ was bulked and named 85DGD1 MLms.

J. Illustrative Procedures for Introduction of a Desired Trait

As described above, techniques for the production of corn plants withadded traits are well known in the art (see, e.g., Poehlman et al., In:Breeding Field Crops, 4^(th) Ed., Iowa State University Press, Ames,Iowa, 132-155; 321-344, 1995; Fehr, Principles of Cultivar Development,1:360-376, 1987; Sprague and Dudley, In: Corn and Corn Improvement,3^(rd) Ed., Crop Science of America, Inc.; Soil Science of America,Inc., Wisconsin. 881-883; 901-918, 1988). A non-limiting example of sucha procedure one of skill in the art would use for preparation of a cornplant of CV696879 comprising an added trait is as follows:

-   -   (a) crossing corn plant CV696879 to a second (nonrecurrent) corn        plant comprising a locus to be converted in corn plant CV696879;    -   (b) selecting at least a first progeny plant resulting from the        crossing and comprising the locus;    -   (c) crossing the selected progeny to corn plant CV696879; and    -   (d) repeating steps (b) and (c) until a plant of variety        CV696879 is obtained comprising the locus.

Following these steps, essentially any locus may be introduced into cornvariety CV696879. For example, molecular techniques allow introductionof any given locus, without the need for phenotypic screening of progenyduring the backcrossing steps.

PCR and Southern hybridization are two examples of molecular techniquesthat may be used for confirmation of the presence of a given locus andthus conversion of that locus. The techniques are carried out asfollows: Seeds of progeny plants are grown and DNA isolated from leaftissue (see Sambrook et al., In: Molecular cloning, Cold Spring HarborLaboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., 2001; Shure et al., Cell,35(1):225-233, 1983). Approximately one gram of leaf tissue islyophilized overnight in 15 ml polypropylene tubes. Freeze-dried tissueis ground to a powder in the tube using a glass rod. Powdered tissue ismixed thoroughly with 3 ml extraction buffer (7.0 M urea, 0.35 M NaCl,0.05 M Tris-HCl pH 8.0, 0.01 M EDTA, 1% sarcosine). Tissue/bufferhomogenate is extracted with 3 ml phenol/chloroform. The aqueous phaseis separated by centrifugation, and precipitated twice using 1/10 volumeof 4.4 M ammonium acetate, pH 5.2, and an equal volume of isopropanol.The precipitate is washed with 75% ethanol and resuspended in 100-500 μlTE (0.01 M Tris-HCl, 0.001 M EDTA, pH 8.0). The DNA may then be screenedas desired for presence of the locus.

For PCR, 200-1000 ng genomic DNA from the progeny plant being screenedis added to a reaction mix containing 10 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.3, 1.5 mMMgCl₂, 50 mM KCl, 0.1 mg/ml gelatin, 200 μM each dATP, dCTP, dGTP, dTTP,20% glycerol, 2.5 units Taq DNA polymerase and 0.5 μM each of forwardand reverse DNA primers that span a segment of the locus beingconverted. The reaction is run in a thermal cycling machine 3 minutes at94 C, 39 repeats of the cycle 1 minute at 94 C, 1 minute at 50 C, 30seconds at 72° C., followed by 5 minutes at 72° C. Twenty μl of eachreaction mix is run on a 3.5% NuSieve gel in TBE buffer (90 mMTris-borate, 2 mM EDTA) at 50V for two to four hours. The amplifiedfragment is detected using an agarose gel. Detection of an amplifiedfragment corresponding to the segment of the locus spanned by theprimers indicates the presence of the locus.

For Southern analysis, plant DNA is restricted, separated in an agarosegel and transferred to a Nylon filter in 10×SCP (20 SCP: 2 M NaCl, 0.6 Mdisodium phosphate, 0.02 M disodium EDTA) according to standard methods(Southern, J. Mol. Biol., 98:503-517, 1975). Locus DNA or RNA sequencesare labeled, for example, radioactively with ³²P by random priming(Feinberg & Vogelstein, Anal. Biochem., 132(1):6-13, 1983). Filters areprehybridized in 6×SCP, 10% dextran sulfate, 2% sarcosine, and 500 μg/mldenatured salmon sperm DNA. The labeled probe is denatured, hybridizedto the filter and washed in 2×SCP, 1% SDS at 65° C. for 30 minutes andvisualized by autoradiography using Kodak XAR5 film. Presence of thelocus is indicated by detection of restriction fragments of theappropriate size.

Tissue Cultures and In Vitro Regeneration of Corn Plants

A further aspect of the invention relates to tissue cultures of the cornplant designated CV696879. As used herein, the term “tissue culture”indicates a composition comprising isolated cells of the same or adifferent type or a collection of such cells organized into parts of aplant. Exemplary types of tissue cultures are protoplasts, calli andplant cells that are intact in plants or parts of plants, such asembryos, pollen, flowers, kernels, ears, cobs, leaves, husks, stalks,roots, root tips, anthers, silk, and the like. In a preferredembodiment, the tissue culture comprises embryos, protoplasts,meristematic cells, pollen, leaves or anthers derived from immaturetissues of these plant parts. Means for preparing and maintaining planttissue cultures are well known in the art (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,538,880; and5,550,318, each incorporated herein by reference in their entirety). Byway of example, a tissue culture comprising organs such as tassels oranthers has been used to produce regenerated plants (U.S. Pat. Nos.5,445,961 and 5,322,789; the disclosures of which are incorporatedherein by reference).

One type of tissue culture is tassel/anther culture. Tassels containanthers that in turn enclose microspores. Microspores develop intopollen. For anther/microspore culture, if tassels are the plantcomposition, they are preferably selected at a stage when themicrospores are uninucleate, that is, include only one, rather than 2 or3 nuclei. Methods to determine the correct stage are well known to thoseskilled in the art and include mitramycin fluorescent staining, trypanblue (preferred) and acetocarmine squashing. The mid-uninucleatemicrospore stage has been found to be the developmental stage mostresponsive to the subsequent methods disclosed to ultimately produceplants.

Although microspore-containing plant organs such as tassels cangenerally be pretreated at any cold temperature below about 25° C., arange of 4 to 25° C. is preferred, and a range of 8 to 14° C. isparticularly preferred. Although other temperatures yield embryoids andregenerated plants, cold temperatures produce optimum response ratescompared to pretreatment at temperatures outside the preferred range.Response rate is measured as either the number of embryoids or thenumber of regenerated plants per number of microspores initiated inculture. Exemplary methods of microspore culture are disclosed in, forexample, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,322,789 and 5,445,961, the disclosures ofwhich are specifically incorporated herein by reference.

Although not required, when tassels are employed as the plant organ, itis generally preferred to sterilize their surface. Following surfacesterilization of the tassels, for example, with a solution of calciumhypochloride, the anthers are removed from about 70 to 150 spikelets(small portions of the tassels) and placed in a preculture orpretreatment medium. Larger or smaller amounts can be used depending onthe number of anthers.

When one elects to employ tassels directly, tassels are preferablypretreated at a cold temperature for a predefined time, preferably at10° C. for about 4 days. After pretreatment of a whole tassel at a coldtemperature, dissected anthers are further pretreated in an environmentthat diverts microspores from their developmental pathway. The functionof the preculture medium is to switch the developmental program from oneof pollen development to that of embryoid/callus development. Anembodiment of such an environment in the form of a preculture mediumincludes a sugar alcohol, for example mannitol or sorbitol, inositol orthe like. An exemplary synergistic combination is the use of mannitol ata temperature of about 10° C. for a period ranging from about 10 to 14days. In a preferred embodiment, 3 ml of 0.3 M mannitol combined with 50mg/l of ascorbic acid, silver nitrate, and colchicine is used forincubation of anthers at 10° C. for between 10 and 14 days. Anotherembodiment is to substitute sorbitol for mannitol. The colchicineproduces chromosome doubling at this early stage. The chromosomedoubling agent is preferably only present at the preculture stage.

It is believed that the mannitol or other similar carbon structure orenvironmental stress induces starvation and functions to forcemicrospores to focus their energies on entering developmental stages.The cells are unable to use, for example, mannitol as a carbon source atthis stage. It is believed that these treatments confuse the cellscausing them to develop as embryoids and plants from microspores.Dramatic increases in development from these haploid cells, as high as25 embryoids in 10⁴ microspores, have resulted from using these methods.

To isolate microspores, an isolation media is preferred. An isolationmedia is used to separate microspores from the anther walls whilemaintaining their viability and embryogenic potential. An illustrativeembodiment of an isolation media includes a 6% sucrose or maltosesolution combined with an antioxidant such as 50 mg/l of ascorbic acid,0.1 mg/l biotin, and 400 mg/l of proline, combined with 10 mg/l ofnicotinic acid and 0.5 mg/l AgNO₃. In another embodiment, the biotin andproline are omitted.

An isolation media preferably has a higher antioxidant level when it isused to isolate microspores from a donor plant, a plant from which aplant composition containing a microspore is obtained, that is fieldgrown in contrast to greenhouse grown. A preferred level of ascorbicacid in an isolation medium is from about 50 mg/l to about 125 mg/l and,more preferably, from about 50 mg/l to about 100 mg/l.

One can find particular benefit in employing a support for themicrospores during culturing and subculturing. Any support thatmaintains the cells near the surface can be used. An illustrativeembodiment of a solid support is a TRANSWELL® culture dish. Anotherembodiment of a solid support for development of the microspores is abilayer plate wherein liquid media is on top of a solid base. Otherembodiments include a mesh or a millipore filter. Preferably, a solidsupport is a nylon mesh in the shape of a raft. A raft is defined as anapproximately circular support material that is capable of floatingslightly above the bottom of a tissue culture vessel, for example, apetri dish, of about a 60 or 100 mm size, although any other laboratorytissue culture vessel will suffice. In an illustrative embodiment, araft is about 55 mm in diameter.

Culturing isolated microspores on a solid support, for example, on a 10mm pore nylon raft floating on 2.2 ml of medium in a 60 mm petri dish,prevents microspores from sinking into the liquid medium and thusavoiding low oxygen tension. These types of cell supports enable theserial transfer of the nylon raft with its associatedmicrospore/embryoids ultimately to full strength medium containingactivated charcoal and solidified with, for example, GELRITE™(solidifying agent).

The liquid medium passes through the mesh while the microspores areretained and supported at the medium-air interface. The surface tensionof the liquid medium in the petri dish causes the raft to float. Theliquid is able to pass through the mesh; consequently, the microsporesstay on top. The mesh remains on top of the total volume of liquidmedium.

The culture vessels can be further defined as either (1) a bilayer 60 mmpetri plate wherein the bottom 2 ml of medium are solidified with 0.7%agarose overlaid with 1 mm of liquid containing the microspores; (2) anylon mesh raft wherein a wafer of nylon is floated on 1.2 ml of mediumand 1 ml of isolated microspores is pipetted on top; or (3) TRANSWELL®plates wherein isolated microspores are pipetted onto membrane insertsthat support the microspores at the surface of 2 ml of medium.

Examples of processes of tissue culturing and regeneration of corn aredescribed in, for example, European Patent Application Publication No.EP0160390, Green and Rhodes, Maize for Biological Research, 367-372,1982; and Duncan et al., Planta, 165:322-332, 1985; Songstad et al.,Plant Cell Reports, 7:262-265, 1988; Rao et al., In: SomaticEmbryogenesis in Glume Callus Cultures, Maize Genetics CooperationNewsletter #60, 1986; Conger et al., Plant Cell Reports, 6:345-347,1987; PCT Application WO 95/06128, Armstrong and Green, Planta,164:207-214, 1985; Gordon-Kamm et al., The Plant Cell, 2:603-618, 1990;Gaillard et al., Plant Cell Reports, 10(2):55, 1991; and U.S. Pat. No.5,736,369.

Processes of Crossing Corn Plants and the Corn Plants Produced by SuchCrosses

The present invention provides processes of preparing novel corn plantsand corn plants produced by such processes. In accordance with such aprocess, a first parent corn plant may be crossed with a second parentcorn plant wherein at least one of the first and second corn plants isthe inbred corn plant CV696879. One application of the process is in theproduction of F₁ hybrid plants. Another important aspect of this processis that it can be used for the development of novel inbred lines. Forexample, the inbred corn plant CV696879 could be crossed to any secondplant, and the resulting hybrid progeny each selfed for about 5 to 7 ormore generations, thereby providing a large number of distinct,pure-breeding inbred lines. These inbred lines could then be crossedwith other inbred or non-inbred lines and the resulting hybrid progenyanalyzed for beneficial characteristics. In this way, novel inbred linesconferring desirable characteristics could be identified.

Corn plants (Zea mays L.) can be crossed by either natural or mechanicaltechniques. Natural pollination occurs in corn when wind blows pollenfrom the tassels to the silks that protrude from the tops of therecipient ears. Mechanical pollination can be effected either bycontrolling the types of pollen that can blow onto the silks or bypollinating by hand. In one embodiment, crossing comprises the steps of:

-   -   (a) planting in pollinating proximity seeds of a first and a        second parent corn plant, and preferably, seeds of a first        inbred corn plant and a second, distinct inbred corn plant;    -   (b) cultivating or growing the seeds of the first and second        parent corn plants into plants that bear flowers;    -   (c) emasculating flowers of either the first or second parent        corn plant, i.e., treating the flowers so as to prevent pollen        production, or alternatively, using as the female parent a male        sterile plant, thereby providing an emasculated parent corn        plant;    -   (d) allowing natural cross-pollination to occur between the        first and second parent corn plants;    -   (e) harvesting seeds produced on the emasculated parent corn        plant; and, when desired,    -   (f) growing the harvested seed into a corn plant, preferably, a        hybrid corn plant.

Parental plants are typically planted in pollinating proximity to eachother by planting the parental plants in alternating rows, in blocks orin any other convenient planting pattern. Where the parental plantsdiffer in timing of sexual maturity, it may be desired to plant theslower maturing plant first, thereby ensuring the availability of pollenfrom the male parent during the time at which silks on the female parentare receptive to pollen. Plants of both parental parents are cultivatedand allowed to grow until the time of flowering. Advantageously, duringthis growth stage, plants are in general treated with fertilizer and/orother agricultural chemicals as considered appropriate by the grower.

At the time of flowering, in the event that plant CV696879 is employedas the male parent, the tassels of the other parental plant are removedfrom all plants employed as the female parental plant to avoidself-pollination. The detasseling can be achieved manually but also canbe done by machine, if desired. Alternatively, when the female parentcorn plant comprises a cytoplasmic or nuclear gene conferring malesterility, detasseling may not be required. Additionally, a chemicalgametocide may be used to sterilize the male flowers of the femaleplant. In this case, the parent plants used as the male may either notbe treated with the chemical agent or may comprise a genetic factor thatcauses resistance to the emasculating effects of the chemical agent.Gametocides affect processes or cells involved in the development,maturation or release of pollen. Plants treated with such gametocidesare rendered male sterile, but typically remain female fertile. The useof chemical gametocides is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No.4,936,904, the disclosure of which is specifically incorporated hereinby reference in its entirety. Furthermore, the use of glyphosateherbicide to produce male sterile corn plants is disclosed in U.S. Pat.No. 6,762,344 and PCT Publication WO 98/44140.

Following emasculation, the plants are then typically allowed tocontinue to grow and natural cross-pollination occurs as a result of theaction of wind, which is normal in the pollination of grasses, includingcorn. As a result of the emasculation of the female parent plant, allthe pollen from the male parent plant is available for pollinationbecause tassels, and thereby pollen bearing flowering parts, have beenpreviously removed from all plants of the inbred plant being used as thefemale in the hybridization. Of course, during this hybridizationprocedure, the parental varieties are grown such that they are isolatedfrom other corn fields to minimize or prevent any accidentalcontamination of pollen from foreign sources. These isolation techniquesare well within the skill of those skilled in this art.

Both parental inbred plants of corn may be allowed to continue to growuntil maturity or the male rows may be destroyed after flowering iscomplete. Only the ears from the female inbred parental plants areharvested to obtain seeds of a novel F₁ hybrid. The novel F₁ hybrid seedproduced can then be planted in a subsequent growing season incommercial fields or, alternatively, advanced in breeding protocols forpurposes of developing novel inbred lines.

Alternatively, in another embodiment of the invention, both first andsecond parent corn plants can be from variety CV696879. Thus, any cornplant produced using corn plant CV696879 forms a part of the invention.As used herein, crossing can mean selfing, backcrossing, crossing toanother or the same inbred, crossing to populations, and the like. Allcorn plants produced using the inbred corn plant CV696879 as a parentare, therefore, within the scope of this invention.

K. F₁ Hybrid Corn Plant and Seed Production

One beneficial use of the instant corn variety is in the production ofhybrid seed. Any time the inbred corn plant CV696879 is crossed withanother, different, corn inbred, a first generation (F₁) corn hybridplant is produced. As such, an F₁ hybrid corn plant can be produced bycrossing CV696879 with any second inbred maize plant. Essentially anyother corn plant can be used to produce a hybrid corn plant having cornplant CV696879 as one parent. All that is required is that the secondplant be fertile, which corn plants naturally are, and that the plant isnot corn variety CV696879.

The goal of the process of producing an F₁ hybrid is to manipulate thegenetic complement of corn to generate new combinations of genes thatinteract to yield new or improved traits (phenotypic characteristics). Aprocess of producing an F₁ hybrid typically begins with the productionof one or more inbred plants. Those plants are produced by repeatedcrossing of ancestrally related corn plants to try to combine certaingenes within the inbred plants.

Corn has a diploid phase, which means two conditions of a gene (twoalleles) occupy each locus (position on a chromosome). If the allelesare the same at a locus, there is said to be homozygosity. If they aredifferent, there is said to be heterozygosity. In a completely inbredplant, all loci are homozygous. Because many loci when homozygous aredeleterious to the plant, in particular leading to reduced vigor, lesskernels, weak and/or poor growth, production of inbred plants is anunpredictable and arduous process. Under some conditions, heterozygousadvantage at some loci effectively bars perpetuation of homozygosity.

A single cross hybrid corn variety is the cross of two inbred plants,each of which has a genotype that complements the genotype of the other.Typically, F₁ hybrids are more vigorous than their inbred parents. Thishybrid vigor, or heterosis, is manifested in many polygenic traits,including markedly improved yields, better stalks, better roots, betteruniformity and better insect and disease resistance. In the developmentof hybrids only the F₁ hybrid plants are typically sought. An F₁ singlecross hybrid is produced when two inbred plants are crossed. A doublecross hybrid is produced from four inbred plants crossed in pairs (A×Band C×D) and then the two F₁ hybrids are crossed again (A×B)×(C×D).

Thousands of corn varieties are known to those of skill in the art, anyone of which could be crossed with corn plant CV696879 to produce ahybrid plant. For example, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office has issuedmore than 300 utility patents for corn varieties. Estimates place thenumber of different corn accessions in gene banks around the world ataround 50,000 (Chang, In Plant Breeding in the 1990s, Stalker and Murphy(Eds.), Wallingford, U.K., CAB International, 17-35, 1992). The MaizeGenetics Cooperation Stock Center, which is supported by the U.S.Department of Agriculture, has a total collection approaching 80,000individually pedigreed samples (available on the world wide web atmaizecoop.cropsci.uiuc.edu/).

An example of an F₁ hybrid that has been produced with CV696879 as aparent is the hybrid CH538091. Hybrid CH538091 was produced by crossinginbred corn plant CV696879 with the inbred corn plant designatedCV995128 (U.S. Pat. No. 8,319,066, the disclosure of which isspecifically incorporated herein by reference in its entirety).

When the inbred corn plant CV696879 is crossed with another inbred plantto yield a hybrid, it can serve as either the maternal or paternalplant. For many crosses, the outcome is the same regardless of theassigned sex of the parental plants. Depending on the seed productioncharacteristics relative to a second parent in a hybrid cross, it may bedesired to use one of the parental plants as the male or female parent.Some plants produce tighter ear husks leading to more loss, for exampledue to rot. There can be delays in silk formation, which deleteriouslyaffects the timing of the reproductive cycle for a pair of parentalplants. Seed coat characteristics can be preferable in one plant. Pollencan be shed better by one plant. Therefore, a decision to use one parentplant as a male or female may be made based on any such characteristicsas is well known to those of skill in the art.

L. Development of Corn Varieties

The development of new varieties using one or more starting varieties iswell known in the art. In accordance with the invention, novel varietiesmay be created by crossing corn variety CV696879 followed by multiplegenerations of breeding according to such well known methods. Newvarieties may be created by crossing corn variety CV696879 with anysecond plant. In selecting such a second plant to cross for the purposeof developing novel inbred lines, it may be desired to choose thoseplants that either themselves exhibit one or more selected desirablecharacteristics or exhibit the desired characteristic(s) when in hybridcombination. Examples of potentially desired characteristics includegreater yield, better stalks, better roots, resistance to insecticides,herbicides, pests, and disease, tolerance to heat and drought, reducedtime to crop maturity, better agronomic quality, higher nutritionalvalue, and uniformity in germination times, stand establishment, growthrate, maturity, and fruit size.

Once initial crosses have been made with corn variety CV696879,inbreeding takes place to produce new inbred varieties. Inbreedingrequires manipulation by human breeders. Even in the extremely unlikelyevent inbreeding rather than crossbreeding occurred in natural corn,achievement of complete inbreeding cannot be expected in nature due towell known deleterious effects of homozygosity and the large number ofgenerations the plant would have to breed in isolation. The reason forthe breeder to create inbred plants is to have a known reservoir ofgenes whose gametic transmission is predictable.

The pedigree breeding method involves crossing two genotypes. Eachgenotype can have one or more desirable characteristics lacking in theother; or, each genotype can complement the other. If the two originalparental genotypes do not provide all of the desired characteristics,other genotypes can be included in the breeding population. Superiorplants that are the products of these crosses are selfed and selected insuccessive generations. Each succeeding generation becomes morehomogeneous as a result of self-pollination and selection. Typically,this method of breeding involves five or more generations of selfing andselection: S₁→S₂; S₂→S₃; S₃→S₄; S₄→S₅, etc. After at least fivegenerations, the inbred plant is considered genetically pure.

Uniform lines of new varieties may also be developed by way ofdouble-haploids. This technique allows the creation of true breedinglines without the need for multiple generations of selfing andselection. In this manner true breeding lines can be produced in aslittle as one generation. Haploid induction systems have been developedfor various plants to produce haploid tissues, plants and seeds. Thehaploid induction system can produce haploid plants from any genotype bycrossing with an inducer line. Inducer lines and methods for obtaininghaploid plants are known in the art.

Haploid embryos may be produced, for example, from microspores, pollen,anther cultures, or ovary cultures. The haploid embryos may then bedoubled autonomously, or by chemical treatments (e.g. colchicinetreatment). Alternatively, haploid embryos may be grown into haploidplants and treated to induce chromosome doubling. In either case,fertile homozygous plants are obtained. In accordance with theinvention, any of such techniques may be used in connection with a plantof the invention and progeny thereof to achieve a homozygous line.

Backcrossing can also be used to improve an inbred plant. Backcrossingtransfers a specific desirable trait from one inbred or non-inbredsource to an inbred that lacks that trait. This can be accomplished, forexample, by first crossing a superior inbred (A) (recurrent parent) to adonor inbred (non-recurrent parent), which carries the appropriate locusor loci for the trait in question. The progeny of this cross are thenmated back to the superior recurrent parent (A) followed by selection inthe resultant progeny for the desired trait to be transferred from thenon-recurrent parent. After five or more backcross generations withselection for the desired trait, the progeny are heterozygous for locicontrolling the characteristic being transferred, but are like thesuperior parent for most or almost all other loci. The last backcrossgeneration would be selfed to give pure breeding progeny for the traitbeing transferred.

The development of a hybrid corn variety involves three steps: (1) theselection of plants from various germplasm pools; (2) the selfing of theselected plants for several generations to produce a series of inbredplants, which each breed true and are highly uniform; and (3) crossingthe selected inbred plants with unrelated inbred plants to produce thehybrid progeny (F₁). During the inbreeding process in corn, the vigor ofthe plants decreases. Vigor is restored when two unrelated inbred plantsare crossed to produce the hybrid progeny (F₁). An important consequenceof the homozygosity and homogeneity of the inbred plants is that thehybrid between any two inbreds is always the same. Once the inbreds thatgive a superior hybrid have been identified, hybrid seed can bereproduced indefinitely as long as the homogeneity of the inbred parentsis maintained. Conversely, much of the hybrid vigor exhibited by F₁hybrids is lost in the next generation (F₂). Consequently, seed fromhybrid varieties is not used for planting stock. It is not generallybeneficial for farmers to save seed of F₁ hybrids. Rather, farmerspurchase F₁ hybrid seed for planting every year.

The development of inbred plants generally requires at least about 5 to7 generations of selfing. Inbred plants are then cross-bred in anattempt to develop improved F₁ hybrids. Hybrids are then screened andevaluated in small scale field trials. Typically, about 10 to 15phenotypic traits, selected for their potential commercial value, aremeasured. A selection index of the most commercially important traits isused to help evaluate hybrids. FACT, an acronym for Field AnalysisComparison Trial (strip trials), is an on-farm experimental testingprogram employed by Monsanto Company to perform the final evaluation ofthe commercial potential of a product.

During the next several years, a progressive elimination of hybridsoccurs based on more detailed evaluation of their phenotype. Eventually,strip trials (FACT) are conducted to formally compare the experimentalhybrids being developed with other hybrids, some of which werepreviously developed and generally are commercially successful. That is,comparisons of experimental hybrids are made to competitive hybrids todetermine if there was any advantage to further development of theexperimental hybrids. After FACT testing is complete, determinations maybe made whether commercial development should proceed for a givenhybrid.

M. F₁ Hybrid Comparisons

As mentioned above, hybrids are progressively eliminated followingdetailed evaluations of their phenotype, including formal comparisonswith other commercially successful hybrids. Strip trials are used tocompare the phenotypes of hybrids grown in as many environments aspossible. They are performed in many environments to assess overallperformance of the new hybrids and to select optimum growing conditions.Because the corn is grown in close proximity, environmental factors thataffect gene expression, such as moisture, temperature, sunlight, andpests, are minimized. For a decision to be made to commercialize ahybrid, it is not necessary that the hybrid be better than all otherhybrids. Rather, significant improvements must be shown in at least sometraits that would create improvements in some niches.

N. Physical Description of F₁ Hybrids

The present invention provides F₁ hybrid corn plants derived from thecorn plant CV696879. The physical characteristics of an exemplary hybridproduced using CV696879 as one inbred parent are set forth in Table 2.An explanation of terms used in Table 2 can be found in the Definitions,set forth hereinabove.

TABLE 2 Morphological Traits for CH538091, a Hybrid Having CV696879 asOne Inbred Parent CHARACTERISTIC VALUE 1. STALK Plant Height (cm) 279.2 Ear Height (cm) 102.8  Anthocyanin Absent Brace Root Color AbsentInternode Direction Straight Internode Length (cm) 19.3 2. LEAF ColorDark Green Length (cm) 90.1 Width (cm) 10.5 Sheath Anthocyanin AbsentSheath Pubescence Light Marginal Waves Moderate Longitudinal CreasesAbsent 3. TASSEL Length (cm) 47.6 Peduncle Length (cm) 12.6 BranchNumber  5.8 Anther Color Salmon Glume Color Green Glume Band Absent 4.EAR Silk Color Yellow Number Per Stalk 1  Position Upright Length (cm)20.9 Shape Semi-Conical Diameter (cm)  4.8 Shank Length (cm) 10.7 HuskBract Short Husk Cover (cm)  2.3 Husk Opening Moderate Husk Color FreshGreen Husk Color Dry Buff Cob Diameter (cm) 3  Cob Color Red ShellingPercent 89.0 5. KERNEL Row Number 15.2 Number Per Row 41.4 Row DirectionStraight Type Dent Cap Color Yellow Side Color Yellow Length (depth)(mm) 11.8 Width (mm)  7.9 Thickness (mm)  3.4 Endosperm Type NormalEndosperm Color Yellow *These are typical values. Values may vary due toenvironment. Other values that are substantially equivalent are withinthe scope of the invention. Substantially equivalent refers toquantitative traits that when compared do not show statisticaldifferences of their means.

Genetic Complements

The present invention provides a genetic complement of the inbred cornplant variety designated CV696879. Further provided by the invention isa hybrid genetic complement, wherein the complement is formed by thecombination of a haploid genetic complement from CV696879 and anotherhaploid genetic complement. Means for determining such a geneticcomplement are well known in the art.

As used herein, the phrase “genetic complement” means an aggregate ofnucleotide sequences, the expression of which defines the phenotype of acorn plant or a cell or tissue of that plant. By way of example, a cornplant is genotyped to determine a representative sample of the inheritedmarkers it possesses. Markers are alleles at a single locus. They arepreferably inherited in codominant fashion so that the presence of bothalleles at a diploid locus is readily detectable, and they are free ofenvironmental variation, i.e., their heritability is 1. This genotypingis preferably performed on at least one generation of the descendantplant for which the numerical value of the quantitative trait or traitsof interest are also determined. The array of single locus genotypes isexpressed as a profile of marker alleles, two at each locus. The markerallelic composition of each locus can be either homozygous orheterozygous. Homozygosity is a condition in which both alleles at alocus are characterized by the same nucleotide sequence or size of arepeated sequence. Heterozygosity refers to different conditions of thegene at a locus. A preferred type of genetic marker for use with theinvention is simple sequence repeats (SSRs), although potentially anyother type of genetic marker could be used, for example, restrictionfragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs), amplified fragment lengthpolymorphisms (AFLPs), single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), andisozymes.

A genetic marker profile of an inbred may be predictive of the agronomictraits of a hybrid produced using that inbred. For example, if an inbredof known genetic marker profile and phenotype is crossed with a secondinbred of known genetic marker profile and phenotype it is possible topredict the phenotype of the F₁ hybrid based on the combined geneticmarker profiles of the parent inbreds. Methods for prediction of hybridperformance from genetic marker data is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.5,492,547, the disclosure of which is specifically incorporated hereinby reference in its entirety. Such predictions may be made using anysuitable genetic marker, for example, SSRs, RFLPs, AFLPs, SNPs, orisozymes.

SSRs are genetic markers based on polymorphisms in repeated nucleotidesequences, such as microsatellites. A marker system based on SSRs can behighly informative in linkage analysis relative to other marker systemsin that multiple alleles may be present. Another advantage of this typeof marker is that, through use of flanking primers, detection of SSRscan be achieved, for example, by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR),thereby eliminating the need for labor-intensive Southern hybridization.The PCR detection is done by use of two oligonucleotide primers flankingthe polymorphic segment of repetitive DNA. Repeated cycles of heatdenaturation of the DNA followed by annealing of the primers to theircomplementary sequences at low temperatures, and extension of theannealed primers with DNA polymerase, comprise the major part of themethodology. Following amplification, markers can be scored by gelelectrophoresis of the amplification products. Scoring of markergenotype is based on the size (number of base pairs) of the amplifiedsegment.

All of the compositions and methods disclosed and claimed herein can bemade and executed without undue experimentation in light of the presentdisclosure. While the compositions and methods of this invention havebeen described in terms of the foregoing illustrative embodiments, itwill be apparent to those of skill in the art that variations, changes,modifications, and alterations may be applied to the composition,methods, and in the steps or in the sequence of steps of the methodsdescribed herein, without departing from the true concept, spirit, andscope of the invention. More specifically, it will be apparent thatcertain agents that are both chemically and physiologically related maybe substituted for the agents described herein while the same or similarresults would be achieved. All such similar substitutes andmodifications apparent to those skilled in the art are deemed to bewithin the spirit, scope, and concept of the invention as defined by theappended claims.

The references cited herein, to the extent that they provide exemplaryprocedural or other details supplementary to those set forth herein, arespecifically incorporated herein by reference.

1. A plant of corn variety CV696879, wherein representative seeds of corn variety CV696879 have been deposited under ATCC Accession No. PTA-125243.
 2. A plant part of the plant of claim
 1. 3. The plant part of claim 2, further defined as pollen, an ovule, or a cell.
 4. A seed of corn variety CV696879, wherein representative seeds of corn variety CV696879 have been deposited under ATCC Accession No. PTA-125243.
 5. A seed of corn variety CV696879 further comprising a transgene, wherein said transgene was introduced into corn variety CV696879 by backcrossing or genetic transformation, and wherein representative seeds of corn variety CV696879 have been deposited under ATCC Accession No. PTA-125243.
 6. A composition comprising the seed of claim 4 comprised in plant seed growth media.
 7. The composition of claim 6, wherein the plant seed growth media is soil or a synthetic cultivation medium.
 8. An F₁ hybrid seed produced by crossing a plant according to claim 1 with a second, distinct corn plant.
 9. An F₁ hybrid seed produced by growing a plant from the seed of claim 5 and crossing said plant with a second, distinct corn plant.
 10. An F₁ hybrid plant grown from the seed of claim
 8. 11. A plant of corn variety CV696879 further comprising a single locus conversion, wherein representative seeds of corn variety CV696879 have been deposited under ATCC Accession No. PTA-125243, and wherein said plant otherwise comprises all of the morphological and physiological characteristics of corn variety CV696879.
 12. The plant of claim 11, wherein the single locus conversion comprises a transgene.
 13. A seed that produces the plant of claim
 11. 14. The seed of claim 13, wherein the single locus conversion comprises a nucleic acid sequence that enables site-specific genetic recombination or confers a trait selected from the group consisting of male sterility, herbicide tolerance, insect or pest resistance, disease resistance, modified fatty acid metabolism, abiotic stress resistance, altered seed amino acid composition, and modified carbohydrate metabolism.
 15. The seed of claim 14, wherein said single locus conversion that confers herbicide tolerance confers tolerance to benzonitrile herbicides, cyclohexanedione herbicides, imidazolinone herbicides, phenoxy herbicides, sulfonylurea herbicides, triazine herbicides, 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid synthase-inhibiting herbicides, 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase-inhibiting herbicides, acetolactate synthase-inhibiting herbicides, protoporphyrinogen oxidase-inhibiting herbicides, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, bromoxynil, dicamba, glufosinate, glyphosate, nicosulfuron, or quizalofop-p-ethyl.
 16. A method of producing a progeny corn plant derived from corn variety CV696879, said method comprising applying plant breeding techniques to the plant of claim 1 or an F₁ hybrid thereof to yield said progeny corn plant.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein said plant breeding techniques comprise backcrossing, marker assisted breeding, pedigree breeding, selfing, outcrossing, haploid production, doubled haploid production, or transformation.
 18. The method of claim 16, further defined as comprising: (a) crossing the plant of corn variety CV696879 or an F₁ hybrid thereof with itself or a different plant to produce a seed of a progeny plant of a subsequent generation; (b) growing the progeny plant of the subsequent generation from the seed of the progeny plant of the subsequent generation; and (c) repeating steps (a) and (b) with sufficient inbreeding to produce an inbred corn plant derived from corn variety CV696879.
 19. A method of producing a commodity plant product, said method comprising obtaining the plant of claim 10 and producing said commodity plant product therefrom.
 20. The method of claim 19, wherein said commodity plant product is grain, starch, seed oil, corn syrup, or protein. 